Tamihere and Labour

John Tamihere will have to wait until November to find out if the Labour Party will take him back as a member – and it could depend on whether others in the party raise objections.

Mr Tamihere confirmed he had applied online to become a member again and had sent a note to the party informing it of this.

Party secretary Tim Barnett said Mr Tamihere would be subject to more scrutiny than usual because of his high public profile.

It was “unusual but not unheard of” for membership to be refused.

The party’s leading council would have to decide if there were any formal objections to Mr Tamihere rejoining. None had yet been received.

“From my point of view, I would just look at the record of membership in the past and anything on things he might have allegedly said or done that might have brought the party into disrepute.”

I think JT is wasting his time. If there are some in Labour who don’t even want him as a member, what chance that he can win a selection, let alone be voted into Cabinet (if they win) by Labour’s Caucus?

JT has charisma and plain speaking in shades, is an appealing figure. But his history of poor judgement makes it most unlikely Labour would make him a Minister, even if he did become an MP. They may want to use him to gain votes, but I don’t think they’ll make him a Minister, and it is elected (for Cabinet anyway) by the caucus for Labour. I don’t think Shearer has enough dominance to push someone like Tamihere through.

Longknives

The Labour Party today is dominated by liberal phoneys, front bums, lesbians and homosexuals, and academics who have mostly never poured concrete on a building site or lifted a bale of wool or sprayed bitumen on a road in the whole of their sheltered existence, and would probably rather not share a dinner table with people who had done those things.

East Wellington Superhero

Positan

Irrespective of Tamihere’s less-than-positive points, he’s someone Labour’s hierarchy should be falling over itself to have on board, simply because he can think outside the transparently fascist rigidity that is Labour’s internal structure.

In general, Labour people evince little concern about the lackings of actual capability, substance and direction in their chosen ones, provided they’re able to make the necessary appropriate noises, or look the part – whereas, on the other hand, they’ll often become dementedly fixated over matters that are really quite irrelevant to the scheme of things. The way Tamihere is perceived by Labour’s ranks will always overshadow any positive qualities he could offer.

To illustrate their attitude further, a while back a mate asked me if I’d be part of a quiz team he was forming for what turned out to be a Labour party fundraiser. As a mildly anti-Labour activist I was amused to be asked, and figured, “what the hell, a fun night out is a fun night out.” It was an enjoyable function and I contributed to their fund-raising by purchasing raffle tickets. However I was recognized by some among the party’s local hierarchy and my mate was ordered not to bring me to the next quiz night. An outsider’s innocent presence was in no way acceptable.

Labour people evince such paranoia and insularity as a constant across the board. The fascinating thing to ponder is the unfathomable basis for their belief that their party could ever render good government when so many of the human values so necessary to effect workable appointments and ensure effective governmental interaction are determinably absent from their makeup.

Nostalgia-NZ

So we see Labour going to work tripping themselves up. Pity they didn’t apply those talents to the opposition role they meant to be taking in Parliament. I agree with Positan, labour come across as a knitting circle. I hope I haven’t offended anybody by suggesting that, try this instead – they should grow some backbone and stop trying to out wimp national.

On the later point, perhaps there might be a chance for JT in Epsom, but only if JK says so.

macdee

Tamihere has a problem with regard Charter Schools, he is keen to have one in west Auckland run by the Waipereira Trust, if his bid is successful and if he gets into Parliament with Labour and if Labour becomes the governement, what does he do when Labour shuts down the Charter schools?? Would be worth giving him a charter school for the trouble it will cause Labour in the future>

KevinH

DPF said:
“I think JT is wasting his time. If there are some in Labour who don’t even want him as a member, what chance that he can win a selection, let alone be voted into Cabinet (if they win) by Labour’s Caucus?”

Labour describes itself as a “broad church” political party and within that definition is a spot for J.T.. Experience and enthusiasm combined with timing present J.T. with an opportunity. Labour quite frankly would be stupid not to take him.
With regards to his past indiscretions, move on and get over it, it was another time, place, and leader.

Lee C

I thought the observation about Shearer was a rather gratuitous dig and slightly off-topic, so I composed this satirical response:

No I think David is right. This really isn’t about John Tamihere. Shearer is too weak within the party he leads to have any chance of his own party doing as it is told by him.

So even if Shearer liked Tamihere, he has no actual influence in his party, because Shearer is making zero impact on the polls, and therefore has no real chance of anyone taking him seriously. That is why he has no chance of swinging a coalition government to replace John Key at the next election. He’s just useless.

Fact is Shearer is only leading the Labour Party because he is so universally under-rated by his own party that they put him there as a purely symbolic entity. you know, as they have nothing better to do.

So, when it comes to the general election, no matter how many people National f**k off, just remember the message:

“Shearer is not a viable alternative to National, and practically everything he does/doesn’t do or say from now to polling day will prove that”.

Lee C

Uh, it’s called party discipline, and it’s why parliamentary parties have whips (apart from the Greens, who have a ‘musterer’). The problem with Tamihere is that while he has damned good executive management skills, he needs to be the one in control, and because of that, he’s seriously authoritarian and uptight insofar as uppity women and LGBT people goes. And it’s not just women and LGBTs that have problems with the guy. He kept white-anting Labour parliamentary party leadership while he was still in Parliament and hey, he let his party membership lapse, and has been supporting current government policies, especially where they benefit the Waipareira Trust, which he runs. Let’s face it, the only reason that he’s decided to rock the Labour boat right now has to do with the Whanau Ora contract that was terminated. Otherwise, he’d be trying to inflict himself on someone else.

I mean, if it was Michael Laws trying to sidle back into National, what would your reaction be?

Let’s face it, all parties have a certain proportion of deadwood/lobby fodder. They tend not to survive in the long term because they’re lacklustre time-servers and do very little other than show up to vote for whatever The Leader dictates. All parties. I concede that there are probably a few in Labour, but also within the Nats, probably the Greens, and as for ACT, the problem is that the deadwood is the sole MP. In the worst case scenarios, the deadwood are seriously incompetent and overrate their own capabilities. If you’re a Nat, do the words Graeme Lee ring any bells? Apart from (to cite Maurice Williamson) “the Lemon from Paeroa”…

Hamnida

Viking2

Redbaiter (1,096) Says:
October 11th, 2012 at 11:43 am

” I don’t think Shearer has enough dominance ”

That’s probably right.

The Labour PartyNational Party today is dominated by liberal phoneys, front bums, lesbians and homosexuals, and academics who have mostly never poured concrete on a building site or lifted a bale of wool or sprayed bitumen on a road in the whole of their sheltered existence, and would probably rather not share a dinner table with people who had done those things.

deadrightkev

I agree with Redbaiter as well. A paint thickness between Labour and National is an overstatement. I would like to know how JT expects to reconcile his tacit approval of Whanau Ora and Charter Schools with the Labour executive, both initiatives of the private sector.